Mourinho is fast turning United into dinosaurs

THE negativity of Jose Mourinho has seeped deep into the fabric of Manchester United. It has turned them into a team who went into the FA Cup final yesterday intent not on expressing themselves, but on stopping Chelsea’s best player, Eden Hazard. It failed dismally.

When the game was over and the final whistle had sounded the death knell for United’s last hope of winning a trophy this season, there was not even consolation for their loyal supporters in the fact that their side had been true to their traditions.

Sure, they were the better side in the second half but they had been so comprehensively outplayed in the opening 45 minutes that the advantage had been lost and they had no choice but to chase the game. Even then, their approach play was, for the most part, laboured.

The truth is hard to ignore when you watch Mourinho’s United in matches like this. Under him, they are becoming the dinosaurs of English football’s elite.

Where Manchester City and Liverpool thrill the neutrals, United are a cautious imitation of the team they once were.

They cannot even console themselves that they are good to watch.

Detailing Ander Herrera to man-mark Hazard at Wembley was the latest expression of the fact that Mourinho does not trust his team to outplay the opposition.

It is not just that they are mediocre. They are dull. For a club of their size, who have spent so much money, to fail to win a trophy asks a multitude of worrying questions about their direction.

Mourinho will still be at Old Trafford next season but elite teams have parted ways with managers after better seasons than his.

United’s league position improved considerably and that will save him but this performance, along with many others of a similar ilk, suggested that progress is stalling.

Among the signs of the malaise, the performance of England star Marcus Rashford was a symbol of the uncertainty Mourinho’s ego is sowing at Old Trafford.

Rashford was one of the club’s brightest stars when Mourinho arrived but his progress, too, has stalled under the manager.

Many warned that the Portuguese, with his suspicion of youth, would ruin the 19-year-old. If that is an exaggeration, then he looked like a player in the first half yesterday who had much of his youthful joy knocked out of him.

At least England manager Gareth Southgate believes in the youngster and he will have to breathe confidence back into him ahead of the World Cup in Russia next month.

Sometimes, for England players, returning to their club from international duty has been a sanctuary. For Rashford, it may be the other way round.

Mourinho was witheringly critical of Rashford after his performance for United in the defeat against Brighton earlier this month.

Without mentioning him by name, he suggested that the public clamour for the England forward to play more games was misplaced.

‘You have the answer now when you ask: “Why always Lukaku?”’, said Mourinho. ‘We are probably not as good as people think we are, individually. It was not good enough.

‘The players who replaced others did not perform at a good level and when individuals do that, it is difficult for the team to play well. Maybe now you will not ask me why A, B and C do not play so much.’

Many found Mourinho’s readiness to criticise a young player unfortunate and it added to the debate about his default tendency to mistrust youth.

Rashford made 35 appearances in the Premier League this season but fewer than half of them were starts. Mourinho’s attitude towards him also drew a stinging rebuke last week from BBC analyst Jermaine Jenas.

‘I found what he did after that Brighton game disgusting,’ said Jenas. ‘When you are managing a young player like Rashford, the thing that I didn’t like about it was for Mourinho to come out as publicly as he did.

‘The comments about Lukaku were a direct shot at Rashford. It was almost like he enjoyed Rashford’s failure.’

When it became obvious that Lukaku had not recovered from injury sufficiently to start the game yesterday and that Rashford would play instead, many expected the youngster to play down the flank and Sanchez to start as the central striker, but it was the Englishman who played down the middle.

In the early stages, as Chelsea started the game better, he was starved of service and dropped deeper to try to get the ball. He struggled and looked desperately short of confidence.

When United finally sprung into life in the second half, Rashford played his part. Some of his belief came flooding back with the team’s recovery.

But when Mourinho brought on Lukaku, his chance to be the saviour was gone.

His summer, though, is just beginning. Playing for a manager (Southgate) who rates him is likely to come as a relief.